HP returns to the tablet world

HP’s TouchPad may not have been the massive success the company was hoping for when it tried to take on the iPad a few years ago, but the company is trying it again, and it’ll be with us this year.

Sitting in the hand-friendly seven inch tablet market, the HP Slate 7 is exactly what the name says: a 7 inch slate.

While the name isn’t the most creative, HP is hoping to grab people on price, with the small tablet carrying a $199 price in Australia, while being spec’d with a dual-core 1.9GHz processor, Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean,” 3 megapixel camera, stainless steel frame, and Beats Audio support.

“To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors and leverage an array of operating systems,” said HP’s Senior Vice President for the Mobility Global Business Unit.

“Our new HP Slate 7 on Android represents a compelling entry point for consumer tablets, while our ground-breaking, business-ready HP ElitePad on Windows 8 is ideal for enterprises and governments. Both deliver the service and support people expect from HP.”

HP haven’t yet specified if the screen in this tablet will be one of the high-resolution ones on offer in many of the current 7 inch tablets, such as the Google Nexus 7, and while we’re hoping there is at least a 720p panel here, HP has said that the screen uses a technology called “High-aperture-ratio Field Fringe Switching” to offer excellent viewing angle in pretty much any condition.

Australians will get to judge this for themselves, however, when HP launches it locally in April.